“Architecture & Facility Management. Life after project delivery” in Roca Barcelona Gallery
On 27 February, Roca Barcelona Gallery hosted the presentation of the book “Arquitectura & Facility Management”. The book is a collection of articles by 37 professionals with a reflective and experiential approach. It is the first time that this discipline has been approached in this format in the world of architecture. Specifically, the book tries to clarify the role of the facility manager to provide a new vision of excellence in the management of the life cycle of physical assets, urban and rural.
The book has been promoted by the Facility Management work group of the “Col-legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya” (COAC), the organisation of the event with Roca. The event also had the collaboration of the “Associació Catalana de Facility Management”, IFMA and Interempresas Media.
The presentation of the event has been in charge of the instigators of the book Miquel Àngel Julià, architect, partner and director of strategy and design of Grup Idea, Felip Neri and Lluís Dalmau, also architects and co-directors of the postgraduate course in Facility Management.
Facility Management, a key discipline in project management
Facility Management is a discipline that includes the management of the building process from the beginning of the project to the end of a construction’s life. Thus, its role is key to guarantee in an integral way the improvement and sustainability in all phases, from design to construction and also in the conservation of buildings and their services. At this time, the role of the facility manager also extends to the design of assets and services of cities.
Some of the 37 professionals who collaborated on the book participated in the event, including Francesc Sutrias, General Director of Heritage of the Generalitat de Catalunya; Emma Bellosta, Project Director of Neinor Homes; Agustí Grau, Director of Engineering and Works of the Hospital Sant Pau or Cristina Navas, Director of General Services of the Fundació Clínic for biomedical research. The architects Almudena Gómez, Iris Moyés, Judith Arruebo and the architect and town planner Manel Zaguirre, among others, also took part in the two discussions.
The facility manager as a maker of strategic value in your organization
The event closed with a debate-interview between Marcel Benedito, a journalist specializing in design and architecture, with Lluís Comerón, former dean of COAC and president of CSCAE, Pere Castelltort, secretary of COAC and the co-publishers and instigators of the book.
Lluís Dalmau highlighted the importance of the facility manager in “going beyond the operation and efficiency of the building”. “The final objective must be strategic, and must include in the organisation itself and align actions with its public policy”, he said.
As for the skills of the current facility manager, Felip Neri has highlighted the need for empathy for teamwork and also the intuition to see that something is not working. On this point, Miquel Àngel Julià added the importance of communication: “FM must be able to be understood by experts from any discipline and at any stage of the project”.
Lluís Comerón insisted on the idea that the facility manager must learn to “manage change” and pursue sustainability objectives. “In the long run, this commitment will be part of the DNA of almost all the technicians in the built environment in the coming years”.
In conclusion, the points of the facility manager’s manifesto were presented with the final objective of “stimulating participation in the implementation of Facility Management” in the organizations, from the base of the technical personnel to the managers. As Lluis Dalmau said, FM=MF. Facility Management is Máxima Felicidad (Maximum Happiness).
